Sunday 8th April 2007
The fabulous weather of the previous walk had now deteriorated such that it was overcast and extremely windy all day. The weather was even worse the day after this walk as it rained all day, but that was all right as I didn't do much that day except travel to Arran. Back to this walk, and it didn't start off too bad as I caught the bus to Arrochar and started to walk along Glen Loin; this was a quiet easy start to the day as I walked all the way to Coriegrogain. After walking along the Loch Sloy service road for a very short distance I turned up a valley track, but soon also left this as well to start the climb up the east ridge of Ben Vane.
What can I say about this climb? It was fantastic, thrilling, unrelenting and exhausting. A brilliant path wove it's way up the steep ridge into an increasingly strong wind all the way up to the top. Having lunch just before I arrived at the summit I was able to, I thought, minimize my exposure to the strong westerly winds, but unfortunately my route took me over to the western side of the mountain and directly into the wind. Battling against the wind all the way I dropped down the grassy slopes making my own route to the col between the Uaine and Coiregrogain valleys.
After the popular eastern ridge of Ben Vane I was now totally on my own for the rest of the walk as I climbed up the steep grassy corrie to Glas Bhealach. With the weather worsening I was now well into the clouds as I slowly dragged myself up the impossibly steep northern face of Beinn Ime and having reached the summit I then had to get back down again. Sometimes I wonder why I do all this; I waste a lot of effort trying to get to the top of a mountain and then I have to waste a lot effort trying to get back down again. And in this sort of weather conditions I didn't gain anything by being at the top: there were no views and it was so unpleasant I don't want to linger there. Dropping steeply down the south-western slope of Beinn Ime to the Luibhean Bealach I then walked down the short valley to Butterbridge, where a bus was caught back to Inveraray.
After the popular eastern ridge of Ben Vane I was now totally on my own for the rest of the walk as I climbed up the steep grassy corrie to Glas Bhealach. With the weather worsening I was now well into the clouds as I slowly dragged myself up the impossibly steep northern face of Beinn Ime and having reached the summit I then had to get back down again. Sometimes I wonder why I do all this; I waste a lot of effort trying to get to the top of a mountain and then I have to waste a lot effort trying to get back down again. And in this sort of weather conditions I didn't gain anything by being at the top: there were no views and it was so unpleasant I don't want to linger there. Dropping steeply down the south-western slope of Beinn Ime to the Luibhean Bealach I then walked down the short valley to Butterbridge, where a bus was caught back to Inveraray.
No comments:
Post a Comment